About The Film

The Secret Canceris a documentary film about the various forms of Appendix Cancer. This website features the doctors, researchers, patients, survivors and their families who participated in this effort to raise awareness of this disease.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

I finally have some updates to report.
I also have some personal experience to relay in working on this
project.

I ask forgiveness in the gap in
postings. There are several reasons for that gap. First, the fact is
that as a PMP survivor, I am still working my way through the 'new
normal' of my physical condition. To may great chagrin, I found that
I wasn't physically up for the cross country travel or the demands of
running a shoot this past summer.

This was a frustrating setback for the
film and for me personally. However, there was a silver lining to
postponing the shoot. Through my fund raising efforts, I have found
more contacts for crew and equipment that will result in a high
quality film. I've also taken the time the delay provided to set up a
network of press contacts. The plan is to try to get coverage in each
location we have a shoot and provide the press in a fact sheet to use
in their stories. That way, we'll be helping to raise awareness even
before the film is wrapped. When the film is finished, we would
return to those same media outlets to publicize it.

We are also going to start shooting the
film in Los Angeles. I decided to begin with the team that worked on
my case and one that was more extreme who didn't make it. I realized
that we will be interviewing a lot of people who received diagnoses
and care from private surgeons and hospitals. I want to make sure
that the public knows that there is help from even the most humble
facilities. I was diagnosed by a doctor at a community clinic who saw
patients with no insurance. My MOAS with heated chemo was at the LA
County hospital.

Part of the price I pay for the
extraordinary care I've received with no insurance, is that one gets
to be not just a lab rat, but very much on display. After my MOAS, I
had dozens of different interns and residents parade through my room.
My father was perplexed by the sheer numbers of them. On several
occasions, they were ten at a clip plus an instructor. I continue to
be on display when I have my follow up appointments. I used to wonder
about why I wasn't assigned a particular doc at the oncology clinic.
Then, the supervising physician happened to be in one of my
consultations. He told me that he wanted to make sure the interns and
residents had a chance to review my case and interview me as they may
not run into a case like mine otherwise. They'd be able to recognize
the disease if they ever saw symptoms like mine. That had been the
case with the doc who diagnosed me. She had been an intern at that
same clinic with a supervising doc who had treated at least two other
cases before mine. The doctors who talked to me today looked like
they were still in high school. The young man should have been in a
boy band. They were both adorable. The question they had which I
still can't answer is why I didn't know that my appendix had burst. I
explain that I have always had menstrual cramps from hell, but that
doesn't seem to suffice as a reply. I think the bigger question is
why I didn't get septicemia. Ah well. My appointments are longer than
most at the clinic because I must be a storyteller in addition to my
usual litany of worries and complaints.

I'm already an awareness raising font
of information. Why not start in my own backyard?Thus, I can get the
film and the news coverage rolling. My plan is to put up snippets of
interviews from each shoot so that the media I approach can check it
out and know exactly what the film will be about. I'm also going to
ask permission to use PMP fact sheets put together by survivors. They
have the best, most succinct information that I've seen on the
disease.

I'm negotiating with USC's Media
Relations on how to set all of this up so that there is no disruption
for the doctors and no patient's privacy is violated. It's a matter
of figuring out what day of the week is best to shoot at the
hospital.

Meanwhile, I am setting a schedule for
shooting in other cities and countries. Busy times ahead! Thank you
for all of your patience.

Current Shoot Dates

A new shooting schedule will be posted soon!

Are you a patient fighting Appendix Cancer? Are you a family member, friend or caregiver of someone fighting Appendix Cancer? We would like to hear your story. Please write to: secretcancerdoc@gmail.com.